Liquid crystal display with nitrided insulating substrate for TFT

A liquid crystal display, comprising:

• a glass substrate,
• a plurality of gate lines formed on a surface of said glass substrate, said gate lines extending in a first direction;
• a gate insulator formed over said plurality of gate lines;
• a silicon layer formed on said gate insulator and disposed above said gate lines;
• a plurality of drain lines formed over said glass substrate and said plurality of gate lines, said drain lines extending in a second direction, wherein said plurality of gate lines and said plurality of drain lines define a plurality of pixel parts arranged in a matrix;
• a drain electrode and a source electrode fonned on said gate insulator and electrically coupled to said silicon layer;
• a plurality of switching elements, each switching element corresponding to one of said plurality of pixel parts;
• a passivation layer formed over said drain and source electrodes and said silicon layer, said passivation layer having a contact hole;
• and
• a pixel electrode formed on said passivation layer and coupled to said source electrode through said contact hole;
• wherein said source electrode includes a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer stacked in sequence, said second layer containing said metallic element, and said first and third layers containing said metallic element and nitrogen atoms, said third layer being in contact with said pixel electrode;
• wherein said surface of said glass substrate has been treated with an oxygen plasma to remove contaminants on said surface and provided with a nitrogen layer to stabilize said oxygen-plasma treated surface;
• wherein said gate lines are formed of a conductive metal structure formed over said nitrogen layer, said conductive metal structure including:
• a lower conductive layer formed on said nitrogen layer, said lower conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen,
• a middle conductive layer formed on said lower conductive layer, said middle conductive layer including a metallic element, and
• an upper conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer, said upper conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen;
• wherein said surface has about 1.5% or less of the strength relative to Si+ of at least one kind of secondary ions selected from the group consisting of CH6N+, C2H6N+, C2H8N+, C4H12N+ and C8H15N2+, and about 3.5% or less of the sum of the strengths relat to Si+ of the secondary ions when the surface is analyzed by a time-of-flight secondary ions mass spectroscope.

A liquid crystal display, comprising:

• a glass substrate.
• a plurality of gate lines formed on a surface of said glass substrate, said gate lines extending in a first direction;
• a gate insulator formed over said plurality of gate lines;
• a silicon layer formed on said gate insulator and disposed above said gate lines;
• a plurality of drain lines formed over said glass substrate and said plurality of gate lines, said drain lines extending in a second direction, wherein said plurality of gate lines and said plurality of drain lines define a plurality of pixel parts arranged in a matrix;
• a drain electrode and a source electrode formed on said gate insulator and electrically coupled to said silicon layer;
• a plurality of switching elements, each switching element corresponding to one of said plurality of pixel parts;
• a passivation layer formed over said drain and source electrodes and said silicon layer, said passivaton layer having a contact hole;
• and
• a pixel electrode formed on said passivation layer and coupled to said source electrode through said contact hole;
• wherein said drain electrode includes a layer, a second layer, and a third layer stacked in sequence, said second layer containing said metallic element, and said first and third layers containing said metallic element and nitrogen atoms;
• wherein said surface of said glass substrate has been treated with an oxygen plasma to remove contaminants on said surface and provided with a nitrogen layer to stabilize said oxygen-plasma treated surface;
• wherein said gate lines are formed of a conductive metal structure formed over said nitrogen layer, said conductive metal structure including:
• a lower conductive layer formed on said nitrogen layer, said lower conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen,
• a middle conductive layer formed on said lower conductive layer, said middle conductive layer including a metallic element, and
• an upper conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer, said upper conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen;
• wherein said surface has about 1.5% or less of the strength relative to Si+ of at least one kind of secondary ions selected from the group consisting of CH6N+, C2H6N+, C2H8N+, C4H12N+ and C8H15N2+, and about 3.5% or less of the sum of the strengths relative to Si+ of the secondary ions when the surface is analyzed by a time-of-flight it secondary ions mass spectroscope.

A liquid crystal display, comprising:

• a glass substrate,
• a plurality of gate lines formed on a surface of said glass substrate, said gate lines extending in a first direction;
• a plurality of drain lines formed over said class substrate and said plurality of gate lines, said drain lines extending in a second direction, wherein said plurality of gate lines and said plurality of drain lines define a plurality of pixel parts arranged in a matrix;
• and
• a plurality of switching elements, each switching element corresponding to one of said plurality of pixel parts:
• wherein said surface of said glass substrate has been treated with an oxygen plasma to remove contaminants on said surface and provided with a nitrogen layer to stabilize said oxygen-plasma treated surface;
• wherein said gate lines are formed of a conductive metal structure formed over said nitrogen layer, said conductive metal structure including:
• a lower conductive layer formed on said nitrogen layer, said lower conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen,
• a middle conductive layer formed on said lower conductive layer, said middle conductive layer including a metallic element, and
• an upper conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer formed on said middle conductive layer, said upper conductive layer being a metal alloy containing nitrogen;
• wherein said oxygen-plasma treated surface said nitrogen layer thereat has a nitrogen concentration between about 10 mol % and about 13 mol % inclusive;
• wherein said surface has about 1.5% or less of the strength relative to Si+ of at least one kind of secondary ions selected from the group consisting of CH6N+, C2H6N+, C2H8N+, C4H12N+ and C8H15N2+, and about 3.5% or less of the sum of the strengths relative to Si+ of the secondary ions when the surface is analyzed by a time-of-flight secondary ions mass spectroscope.